Choosing An SMS Provider | SMS Service Provider Australia

10 Questions to ask when choosing an SMS Provider

Selecting a provider: check list
Some questions to ask any potential SMS providers.

This shows if the account really does have a '2-way' capability or if all inbound messages will simply be forwarded to you.
Your own account phone number will always be available as an option but at what cost? Some providers charge a fee per inbound reply message at up to 50% of the cost of sending out messages. Others will charge an extra amount for the number and tie that service to their higher level plans.
All SMS Solutions accounts have a reply number included in the published plan costs. There is no option to not have a reply number because we believe handling replies properly is critical, therefore, there is no hidden costs for replies.

How are Opt-outs handled

This is critical and if mishandled can lead to legal issues and large fines.
Apart from the legal requirements it is fundamental to respect your customer's wishes.
All replies being sent straight back to your email or mobile. This means you must manually check each number and take it off your database.
Some providers will offer a 'Blacklist' service but only with their premium account level.
All STOP replies are handled automatically. The number is flagged as ‘unsubscribed’ and blocked from receiving any more SMS’s. The number remains in your database, along with all history and is clearly seen as 'unsubscribed. An automatic confirmation SMS sent back to acknowledge the request.

An important strength of SMS marketing is its immediacy and knowing when your message will be seen.
Campaigns to only a few thousand people taking more than an hour to be processed. Even if you have a small customer database low send speeds can mean that your campaign gets 'stuck' behind a larger one.
The SMS Solutions platform is currently configured to operate at an outbound speed of approximately 5,000 messages per minute. If you want your campaign delivered at 6:30 p.m., then 7.30 is not good enough.

Personalised messages have a significantly higher response rate. The more targetted your campaign the more effective it will be.
Many SMS systems have limited capabilities to add additional information about your customers and to merge some of that information with the message.
Your SMS Solutions account can include the capability to set-up as many 'fields' as you need and to easily merge all the information into your messages. This allows active datamining to segment your customers in different ways for different campaigns.You can also set-up multiple groups with one contact in more than one group.

Things change. It is your data and your should be able to access it and move it whenever you want to.
Systems that do not have 'export' buttons.
You can easily export lists, replies, history, keyword responses directly from your account.

Every provider claims to have a '2-way' service.
Managing replies accurately is very important to ensure you are a) responding to your customers and b) ensuring legal compliance.
Often this means that all replies individually come to your email address. This is cheaper than setting up a real reply number for your account, but do you really want to check 50 or 250 emails after your SMS campaign? To handle replies properly will often incur an addition cost above the cheap 'headline' price.
All replies comes straight back to your SMS account. You can search replies by number, date or campaign and you can view all messages per each individual customer.
Replies can be forwarded to your email or mobile and if they are you can choose to receive only the non-OptOut replies.

Two different levels of service, and pricing, is a certain indication that overseas delivery routes are used to avoid paying the standard fees to Australian telcos.
Providers that offer different levels of service and pricing. This will often be described as 'Hybrid' or 'Non-mission-critical'. The headline SMS price will always reflect the lower service delivered through third world countries to avoid Australian costs. Some providers will charge an extra fee for 'Australian Timestamps' - add another 25% to the 'headline' price - just another indication that the cheaper alternative is going through other countries.
If you are not concerned that 20-30% of your messages are not delivered then these services might suit you.
SMS Solutions has never used 'alternative' delivery routes for three reasons: 1/ We simply don't understand the concept that you might be OK if some messages are not delivered - surely every message is 'critical'; 2/ working directly with the Australian telcos means we have maximum reliability and visibility; and 3/ we think that paying the fair price to the Australian telcos is just the right thing to do and a better long-term business option.

This is critical and if mishandled can lead to legal issues and large fines.
Apart from the legal requirements it is fundamental to respect your customer's wishes.
All replies are sent straight back to your email or mobile. You must manually check each number and take it off your database.
Some providers will offer a 'Blacklist' service but only with their premium account level.
All STOP replies are handled automatically. The number is flagged as ‘unsubscribed’ and blocked from receiving any more SMS’s. The number remains in your database, along with all history and is clearly seen as 'unsubscribed. An automatic confirmation SMS sent back to acknowledge the request.

Most databases we see have a variety of ways that mobile numbers have been entered by different people over the months & years.
Systems that insist on numbers added in the international format only - starting with +61
The SMS Solutions system will pick up valid mobile numbers in any format, e.g. +61444111888, 0444 111 888 04 444111888. It will also ignore other numbers such as 'land line' numbers that are mixed in the database - no need for you to do any cleaning or sorting.
The system will also check for duplicates and take them out.

SMS is a great marketing tool, but if you were considering TV advertising would you be talking with a TV manufacturer?
Complete focus on the technology with little or no engagement about the marketing
At SMS Solutions we believe we have great technology and have built a great marketing tool. We also have a depth of SMS and retention marketing knowledge which allows us to find the correct solution for you and to suggest ways the SMS can complement your marketing plans.